Discoveries from Slovenia World Cinema

Why when people in leading positions get into conflict, there only "ordinary people" get hurt? Two personal bodyguards of governor of a small Roman province asks themselves just that. In movie we will witness the funny stories, which are talking about how history is not changing and that the lifestyle in ancient times was no different than ours. Even if there are barbarian threats, people in leading positions will try not to do anything to protect their people.

In Ljubljana lives a bus driver Stebe. He's a widower. He lives with five sons and a maid Rozi. The boys are very naughty and keep annoying Rozi and, in fact all neighbourhood. One day Rozi in desperation declares that she is leaving them, because she cant stand it no more. And she does leave, although she is fond of the boys. Soon afterwards Rozi's niece Meri comes by, asking if she might stay because she wants to find herself a job in town. Meri is good girl but cannot cope with the kitchen work as successfully as her aunt. But the whole Steb family seems to be charmed by her. Even one of Stebe's own colleagues, Tone, begins to take interest in the girl. Meri likes him too. Stebe's boys feel quite disappointed because of it. But all's well that ends well: in full conspiracy Meri qualifies as bus driver while Rozi returns to the Stebe family.

A mockumentary about fictional eccentric man from Maribor, Slovenia who wants to become a presidential candidate in order to put his main goals into action: more love, friendship and understanding between people.

A wordless and virtually soundless but nonetheless exquisitely sensitive drama about an overweight butcher who lives alone and the strange fascination he develops for an attractive young woman he sees on his regular bus route. He takes tentative steps to approach her but though he receives an open, caring smile, fails to respond.

Ana and Lars are spending their summer holiday on an island in the Adriatic sea. It seems like paradise, until an unexpected encounter puts their relationship to the test, forcing them to re-evaluate what they really want from each other.

Eva is a young artist who smokes, drinks, occasionally takes drugs, parties and finds no creative inspiration. She also has a strange love affair with her mentor, her best friend is moving to Berlin, her pay check is three months late and above all so is her period. She realizes she needs to change her lifestyle and turns to a web browser for help. Bitch is a film about a period in life where you simply get stuck and do not know how to move on.

Two young female friends are spending summer days together while one of them is going through personal changes. In the course of their everyday conversations, deeper layers of yearning are slowly revealed to us.

Confessions of people who have lost their sight during their lives. What are their feelings and how do they view their apparent handicap?

After a year’s absence of his father, son tries to reconcile with him on a solitary trip to the family mountain hut. The more he tries, the more distant his father becomes. When a sunny day is suddenly disrupted by heavy rain, son fears this might have something to do with his father. Can he find the strength to see the truth before the flood arrives?

Paolo, 40 years old, lives in a small Friulian town close to the north-eastern border. Unreliable and with a passion for good wine, he spends his days at the local tavern and stubbornly stalks his ex-wife.

After cheating on his wife with a prostitute, Peter must try and forge ahead with his idyllic family surroundings while carrying the guilt, but that doesn't stop his wandering eye or the temptation to do it again. Meanwhile, his wife Katarina receives mysterious text messages that might be indicative of her own indiscretions. As the two drift further apart while living in secret, their teenage daughter takes after their behavior while exploring her own sexuality, careful not to divulge too much information to her parents. A portrait of a family in a constant state of calm before the inevitable storm of discontent and discovered lies.

Codelli is a feature-length docudrama about a little-known film project by Slovenian inventor Baron Anton Codelli. Together with filmmaker and adventurer Hans Schomburgk he filmed in Togo in 1914 the first live-action film in Africa, which possibly inspired James Rice Burroughs for his novel on Tarzan. In the company of three Codelli’s descendants and actor Primož Bezjak, we traced the fate of Codelli’s film, brought the remains from Togo and Berlin to Ljubljana and used the Green Screen technology to bring to life 15 live-action scenes based on 600 Codelli’s museum photographs.

The creators of the documentary film "Gram srca" entered the world of addiction and accompanied addicts on the streets of Ljubljana, who in interviews confessed their own experience of the harmful consequences of drug use... loss of home, broken and destroyed families, child abduction, prostitution, HIV infections, physical violence, alcoholism...

Childhood memories of fishing with grandpa grow so vivid they visit the protagonist's present experience.

A painter named Vlado paints a portrait of an unknown woman. When the portrait "becomes alive" and the woman in the painting shows up at the artist's exhibition opening, Vlado's life is turned upside down. As Vlado becomes involved in a passionate affair with the mysterious woman, he does not even notice that he has fallen into the trap of Zom, a para-psychological organization which controls the actions of individuals by entering their thoughts, which is the meaning of "passing". A whirlwind of curious events and unexplained suicides takes him into a world where reality and fantasy are intertwined, a world created by a manipulative international corporation. In the world where relationships are just a means to an end and death is only an illusion, control and power are of ultimate value. Vlado realizes that he cannot trust anyone and even doubts his own sanity. However, it turns out that the naive artist is not such an easy target.

When he was nineteen Belgrade and a half of the former Yugoslavia admired him. Too much money to spend, a famous and desirable pop singer Lepa Brena. Then he left Marakane and joined the black-and-white stripes soccer club at the famous JLA Stadium in Belgrade. Milko Djurovski. The soccer poetry of Milko’s legs sings of love, which sparkles in his eyes, when he smells freshly cut grass or the leather of the soccer ball. The whole world is trapped in this ball.

An old legend of a vampire from Gorjanci forest, a dwelling place for creatures from folk legends and myths.

An intimate portrait of the family of Jure Šterk, the first Slovenian to sail the globe alone.

A documentary about favorite shopping destination for Yugoslavs: Trieste in Italy.

. . . . Rumene zore is a carefully crafted miniature in which he digitally mimics some of the analogue procedures from the past. If Marc’s analogue works from the 80s were post-punk, then the new ones could well be post-film!

Marjetka is living ten years with Maks, who is a painter, and an uncompromising conceptual artist. At first, it seemed different: Max was witty, charming, talented and promising, so he hired Marjetka to reach fame and success. "Well, it is funny today, but fame and money is not coming out of nowhere". The film has a poet, Srecko, Max's mother, an opera singer, and Vilma, Marjetka's friend. In short, the artists themselves, or as Max says from his point of view: "Slovenian - Country artists". And when Marjetka a few days after her 30th birthday, full of doubts about this way of life, which is not to her liking, she realizes that Maks is not only an irreversible bohemian, but also a slacker and sarcastic, she decides to change her life. And this is very radical. Rather than leave it to him.

An art-doc in which commissioners, curators, artists, delegates and visitors to the NSK State Pavilion ask themselves questions about the meaning of European cultural and political heritage, its past and future.

Black soldiers are captured by red soldiers and shot dead. Then, red soldiers capture black and shoot them. And so on to the bare end.

Ivan and Jožica, a married couple, move to a care home after 70 years of sharing their lives. Despite the hardships of old age, they continue to live together in the new environment. Memories are fading, love remains.

Slovenian countryside in the 18th century. The future lord of the manor, Ožbej, falls in love with the new maid, Meta. His family, however, is opposed to the match and successfully plots to keep the young couple apart. Although Meta must endure scorn and degradation at the hands of the villagers, Ožbej still cannot tear himself away from her. Five children are born of their union, all of whom are looked upon as bastards by the manor folk. Although driven by desperation to return to the manor, Ožbej still harbours the hope that he will one day be able to live together with his love. Can he survive without the woman he loves and without his children? Will he be able to survive at all?

An adolescent girl tries to dream about memories of Mother while having to be physically present in the surrounding farm with grandmother.

Under the warm rays of the sun, the protagonists become living still lifes, resting on benches, chairs, and deckchairs. In the quiet embrace of nature, they wait, reflect, and remember. This cinematic group portrait delves into the legacy and creative spirit of Vilko Filač, the Slovenian master of film photography, celebrating the enduring mark he left on the world of cinema.

Bruno lives at a home for the elderly and is in love with a co-resident named Dusa. Their love story is fragmented, as they tend to constantly forget each other. Thus, they can always meet for the first time.

March 2020. As the Covid-19 epidemic is declared, movement restrictions are put in place and social life is disrupted. Inseparable tells the story of a group of friends who still find a way to connect and share their thoughts with each other.

Marija, Boko, Irena and other neighbours have a picnic in front of their apartment building. Suddenly a jet-fighter flies overhead. Later Peter, who flew this plane and is the son of Irena and Boko, formerly an officer in the Yugoslav Peoples Army, also arrives. Four years later the war for Slovenia breaks out and Yugoslavia is falling apart. Marjan and Bokos families, which used to be on friendly terms, are now inimical. Marjan wants to shoot the soldiers of the Yugoslav Army with an air gun, and Boko does not know what to do. Things get worse, Peter calls from the airport and an air-raid alarm forces them to seek refuge in a bomb shelter. But Marjan does not want Irena and Boko there, as they are supposed to be enemies of Serbia. Someone burns the Yugoslav flag and everyone has to run outside, while jet fighters are already flying over the apartment buildings.

A tragedy looms for a young Gypsy violinist whose half brother is in the throes of first love.

The DVD include 63 sketches based on Mujo and Haso jokes.

Joker Out proudly presents their first solo arena show captured as an exclusive concert film.

The film story is based on a time-out when the characters from Vandot's stories about boy Kekec grow up. Rozle becomes the village priest, Mojca goes to work in the city, Bedanec becomes a village dormitory, Kosobrin is a slightly more modern herbalist, and Kekec remains a shepherd, but only slightly grows. Through all the narrative, Kekec wants, and he is very determined, to marry in a short time with Mojca, who is entrusted with his director Feri. A couple of times, they crash into Kosobrin's village after a drop of Mojca's painful eyes. Kosobrin and Bedanec still do not understand best. Bedanec still wants to get rid of Kosobrin's mysterious recipes and Kekec still protects him, but with increasing problems. Kekec's decisiveness, courage, and strength were broken by his unheard-of love towards Mojca. All this illness can only relieve the true flower.

Guti and Sig wake up naked and handcuffed to one another on a riverbank near Ljubljana. Sig suffers from memory loss, after a fight with skinheads that Guti tried peacefully to intervene. Sig has no passport or any clue about his identity, the skinheads have taken everything he owned. Guti is trying to build a new home for himself and introduces Sig to his friends, a group of suburban misfits, who remind Sig of a legend of the hidden people.

Pero is a professional funeral speaker in a small Slovenian town. His unique gift is to make every funeral that extra bit special. Pero just can't help turning his eulogies into witty personal confessions that bring the grieving crowd to tears for all the wrong reasons.

The protagonist is a young man, a former athlete, now a gym teacher. He is essentially a disappointed idealist who distances himself from the world and himself with irony and self-irony. His indifferent attitude towards life undergoes a slight change when he meets the headmistress of the rural school where he also teaches.

After a night of carousing, the amateur photo model Zina heads for a fashion shoot in the nature, accompanied by the ambitious Mia, apathetic Dragica and snobby photographer Blitcz. On the idyllic location, a supposedly ordinary fashion shoot soon turns into a fierce fight for survival.

Video work tells a story of an art collector as remembered by herself in her old age, and as narrated by her friend, a psychoanalyst. Through this narrative the authors deal with the spirit of avant-garde art in the first half of the 20th century. By layering black and white and color images and sounds the work creates a deep and lively emotional space.

A film about a theatre performance and four very notable people behind it: writer and director D. Jovanović, actress M. Zupančič and actors R. Polič and B. Cavazza. This is a story of a love triangle and of a multi-layered, entirely overt intertwining of protagonists’ public artistic personas and their personal lives. The film documents a 4-month process of the making of a theatre piece from the first rehearsal to the opening night, at the same time uncovering the intimate lives of the artists and telling a universal story of the relationship between the real and the imagined, a story of personal and public perceptions of art.

Caught amid a violent corruption affair, a young woman is forced to make an impossible choice between the man she obsessively loves and her newborn son.

A story inspired by the largest single rescue mission of downed Allied airmen behind enemy lines in aviation history of all time, codenamed “The Halyard Mission”. This action took place in the summer of 1944. It was led by the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland that was headed by General Dragoljub “Draža” Mihailović. It was at great cost and sacrifice that the Serbian people saved 508 American and other Allied countries’ airmen from certain death, sending them off to safety from the improvised airfield in the Serbian village of Pranjani, at the foot of Mt Suvobor.

The wish to unglue himself from the ground, to rise above it with only the strength oh his muscles, has been one of man’s oldest yearnings yet to come true. The story of the film is a result of the Mayor’s wish to have his Island enter aviation history, and the impotence of the chosen “flyer”, who in his blind passion for flying doesn’t even notice his wife’s affair with the mailman or the conspiracy of the village big shots, who are ready to sacrifice their neighbour for the dubious distinction of being written of as the first self powered aviator. The church bell, the stake for a successful flight, ends up on the “flyers” yard since the pilot has kept his word :”I will fly. I will rise, glide through the air, or I’ll never walk the ground again.”

When Alma discovers that her father’s company plans to demolish the playground, she gets determined to save green areas. Alma has no choice but to join forces with her worst enemies – Luna’s skate gang.

A young soldier enters a conflict with his superiors and because he does not get the exit for the May Day holidays, he decides to escape. The escape of the weapon is a serious offense, and because there are no routes back to the barracks, the fate of the violence that leads to a bloody bribe begins to unfold. The story goes back to the time of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.

Tragedy doesn’t come any more Dickensian in tone or Shakespearian in scope than this dark social drama of the disintegration of a little family of four. A series of small debts triggers the swift domino effect that unleashes chaos on a well-meaning working class dad who has the bad judgment to speak truth to power.

Piran - Pirano tells a story about three individuals and how their destinies are unusually intertwined. An Italian Antonio, a Bosnian Veljko and a Slovenia girl Anica face the terror of war as children and each of them become war's victim in their own way. Half a century later their paths cross again and last days of war, fear, despair, love and inexplicable emotions live up again - this time because Antonio returns to Piran to see his place of birth once again before he dies.

The documentary explores the writer’s literary works and offers possible reasons as to why he is said to be rightly considered the most successful, possibly the most awarded Slovenian writer among mountain climbers, or mountain climber among writers.

A look inside a job of paid assassin with unusual disability.

In a not-too-distant future ravaged by climate crisis, a team of scientists analyse the archival footage of farmers from the past, in an attempt to understand their connection to the land. In this beautifully shot blend of documentary and fiction, Gregor Božić pays warm tribute to the old growers of the Goriška region in Western Slovenia, who appreciated fruit as more than merely a product for sale.

A man wanders through his life. Everything seems the same, but signs of life appear in the most unexpected places.

After a 25-year battle with Thai censorship, a filmmaker discusses the value of art in society.

Leo is an Italian who lives in Slovenia. Vučko is a Bosnian who arrived to Slovenia as a child refugee. Leo continues to stay in Slovenia because of his ex-wife Tanja and his son Luka, hoping that they can become a family again. When the bank refuses to grant a loan Leo and Vučko would need to renovate their restaurant, they have no choice but to accept an offer from Gianni, a swindler. They are tasked with stealing Gianni’s truck so that he can collect the insurance money. However, instead of stealing Gianni’s truck, Leo and Vučko mistakenly steal a truck full of refugees. Vučko the refugee and Leo the migrant themselves thus inadvertently become responsible for destinies of people similarly unfortunate as they had once been. In order to solve their financial problems, they decide to sell the refugees. At first it seems that they are not indifferent towards these people, but with each passing day there is less and less humanity left in Leo and Vučko.

A film about the phenomenon of 'revenge porn' by linking various clips from the film, series and cartoon landscape.

Following her mother's injury, 11 year-old Rana is determined to protect her younger sister from an untrusty uncle who's stepping in to help the family.

The action takes place in Piran, where three children meet. An SMS message was sent to the wrong number triggers a series of events in which children go through various adventures and puzzles related to Piran. The antagonists of the story are bandits who are looking for treasure, but they are overtaken by children who are more skilled in solving the keys that lead to the treasure. The children are the first to find the treasure, which is actually a collection of letters between the famous violinist Tartini and Stradivari, a violin maker who through correspondence provided him with support and advice on improving violins.

Adrian visits the seaside with his mother. Adrian becomes jealous when a man is interested in his mother.

Tone, an older man, drives from Germany to visit his son Grega and his daughter-in-law Masha. Though nobody talks about it, something horrible has happened. In attempt to ease their pain for a moment, Tone takes the young couple out for an ice-cream and so begins their drive around the countryside. On the road, Grega and Masha experience sudden changes of mood. They get aggressive, deeply saddened, suddenly cheerful, nervous, depressed... They are together but each on their own. And the gap between them is growing. Meanwhile, Tone drives them further away from home but no further from what has happened.

In 2007 three artists joined the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and officially changed their names to that of the leader of that party, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša. While they renamed themselves for personal reasons, the boundaries between their lives and their art began to merge in numerous and unforeseen ways.

Mihrije, Sina, and Jasna are best friends in their early twenties who live in Slovenia. They are tomboys and refuse to conform to the conservative system they live in. Their world turns upside down when they meet Fantasy, a transgender woman. Together, they embark on a journey that explores the complexities of gender, desire, and self-discovery.